AWARENESS OF DAIRY FARMERS IN THE ZONA DA MATA MINEIRA ON METHODS OF MASTITIS PREVENTION IN DAIRY CATTLE AND ETIOLOGICAL AGENTS ISOLATION

Abstract

Mastitis causes loss of milk quality, health risks to consumers due to antibiotic residues and pathogenic microbes, and serious economic losses to both the grower and the dairy industry. The knowledge related to the causative species of the disease, clinical evolution and factors that favour the establishment of the infection should be prioritized. Improved control programs and disease prevention should be put into practice, aiming the suitable training of the producers, mainly referring to the proper handling of milking. In this work, we seek to carry out an awareness of the importance of bovine mastitis control and prevention in the Zona da Mata mineira and to determine the main etiological agents. We identified 3.3% of cases of clinical mastitis, 15% subclinical and 81.7% of ceiling healthy. The main etiologic agents were Staphylococcus aureus isolated in 28.52% of cases and Saphylococcus sp., coagulase negative, 14.83%. We also observed that few producers in the region have basic knowledge about methods of mastitis prevention and control. Thus, many programs lack the specialized technical assistance, which would be useful for the development of their communities.